Sophie Wilkinson | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/profile/sophie-wilkinson
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How Wagamama changed the way we eat | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/19/how-wagamama-changed-the-way-we-eat
<p>It’s 25 years since Wagamama opened its first branch. Sophie Wilkinson reveals how the chain stays fresh</p><p>A waiter scribbles on my placemat, asking: “Have you eaten here before?” Yes, of course, because I’m at <a href="https://www.wagamama.com/">Wagamama</a>, the 128-strong chain which has been feeding hungover, shopping-weary and other assorted Britons for 25 years.</p><p>‘We need to make flavours unique. We’ve got to keep it exciting,’ says executive chef Steve Mangleshot</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/19/how-wagamama-changed-the-way-we-eat">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkRestaurantsFood & drink industryLife and styleBusinessSun, 19 Nov 2017 08:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/19/how-wagamama-changed-the-way-we-eatPhotograph: prPhotograph: prSophie Wilkinson2017-11-19T08:30:00ZI understand Gayle Newland’s impulse to catfish – I posed as a man online for sex | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/21/understand-gayle-newland-catfish-pretended-to-be-a-man-online-sex
Without going as far as Newland did, many aspects of her testimony match my own experience. Can you ever stop people pretending not to be themselves?<br /><br />• Sophie Wilkinson is a freelance journalist<p>Gayle Newland, who tricked a friend into sex by using a fake male identity and a prosthetic penis, has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/20/gayle-newland-jailed-for-tricking-female-friend-into-sex" title="">following a re-trial</a>. Coverage of the fascinating trial has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/15/gayle-newland-retrial" title="">compelling</a>, but I will offer a precis. Uploading to Facebook images of an American-Filipino man, Newland invented “Kye Fortune”. Kye would go on to befriend a woman whom the courts have called Chloe, for legal reasons, who would not only become friends with Newland but consent to sex with Kye.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/20/gayle-newland-jailed-for-tricking-female-friend-into-sex">Woman who posed as man to dupe friend into sex is jailed after retrial</a> </p><p>Ann Coffey MP has called for a ban on stealing others’ identities online. Unfortunately, it’s unworkable</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/15/gayle-newland-retrial">‘I was pretending to be a boy for a variety of reasons’: the strange case of Gayle Newland</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/21/understand-gayle-newland-catfish-pretended-to-be-a-man-online-sex">Continue reading...</a>GenderCrimeOnline datingMTVFri, 21 Jul 2017 08:26:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/21/understand-gayle-newland-catfish-pretended-to-be-a-man-online-sexPhotograph: Alamy Stock PhotoPhotograph: Alamy Stock PhotoSophie Wilkinson2017-07-21T08:26:20ZA moment that changed me: my coming out letter to my mum | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/coming-out-to-my-mum-sexuality
<p>After years of bickering between me and my mum, it was an argument about a school trip that broke us. That’s when I wrote her</p><p>My coming-out letter was a lined sheet of A4 paper, covered in scrawls of turquoise gel pen. Addressed to “Ma”, I don’t remember writing it, but I do remember feeling sick with nerves as I placed it on the floor next to her bedroom door. I was 17, we had just had a shouting match, something pretty common in a home where she, a full-time assistant headteacher, was single-handedly raising three daughters.</p><p>This time, the argument was over my refusal to go on a school trip to Iceland. I insisted it was too expensive, but she’d already paid a £150 deposit. After slamming doors in hormonal rage, I wondered if these regular schisms weren’t just down to me being a brat, but because I’d been hiding part of me from her for so long.</p><p>Prior to my letter, I’d been 'out' at school for two years, and the new teasing was nothing like before</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/17/refusing-place-private-school-comprehensive">A moment that changed me: refusing a place at private school | Maurice McLeod</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/coming-out-to-my-mum-sexuality">Continue reading...</a>SexualityFamilySocietyLife and styleUK newsFri, 24 Mar 2017 09:10:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/coming-out-to-my-mum-sexualityPhotograph: PRPhotograph: PRSophie Wilkinson2017-03-24T09:10:03ZPeople with dementia deserve to find peace – and that costs money | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/16/dementia-social-care-alzheimers
As we let the social care bar drop ever lower – are our relatives being fed and wiped? – we lose sight of all requirements for a dignified end of life<p>“I ought to get to dinner. We must not <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cogitate" title="">cogitate</a>” says my 97-year-old grandmother, who has lived with vascular dementia for three years, after a series of strokes. Now, though she does not recognise me, she can still pluck from the dusty attic of her mind a word I – shamefully – didn’t know.</p><p>The word, like many polysyllables my erstwhile crossworder grandmother surprises me with, is now one I understand. But the act (to deeply think about something, with intent to do something about it) is unfamiliar not only to me, with my millennial distractions of boxsets, Instagram memes and eternal financial and societal insecurity, but to those in charge of the nation’s social care.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/16/dementia-social-care-alzheimers">Continue reading...</a>DementiaMental healthOlder peopleSocietyFri, 16 Dec 2016 15:35:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/16/dementia-social-care-alzheimersPhotograph: Family PhotoPhotograph: Family PhotoSophie Wilkinson2016-12-16T15:35:45ZButch chic: how the gender-neutral trend has ruined my wardrobehttps://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/mar/24/butch-chic-how-the-gender-neutral-trend-has-ruined-my-wardrobe
<p>Arguably the biggest trend this season, unisex style is everywhere – from JW Anderson to Topshop and Cos. But what does it mean for women who have always dressed like this? <strong>Sophie Wilkinson</strong> explains</p><p>In next month’s US Vogue, actor Ellen Page explains in newsworthy fashion why <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/15/ellen-page-comes-out-speech-human-rights-campaign">coming out</a> has rekindled her love of fashion: “I used to feel this constant pressure to be more feminine,” she explains, adding: “You need to wear a dress or people will think you’re gay … Now I feel a sense of freedom in dressing.” <br></p><p>Page is far from the first gay woman to discover new-found sartorial freedom after coming out. Though I realised I was into girls at around four, it took until 14 to come out, and then 17 to tell my mum. I think she must have realised when I started cutting my hair (with a razor, in the shower) to make my hair like Shane’s from The L Word. “Don’t you want boys to like you?” she asked. And now I wonder, like Page, how many women – straight or not – would benefit from never having to consider what a man – real or imagined – thought of their clothes. </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2015/mar/18/one-style-suits-all-as-unisex-fashion-gets-on-the-agender">One style suits all as unisex fashion gets on the agender</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/mar/24/butch-chic-how-the-gender-neutral-trend-has-ruined-my-wardrobe">Continue reading...</a>FashionGenderLife and styleSexualityTue, 24 Mar 2015 09:07:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/mar/24/butch-chic-how-the-gender-neutral-trend-has-ruined-my-wardrobePhotograph: ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty ImagesSophie Wilkinson2015-03-24T09:07:47ZThe L Word – box set reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/20/the-l-word-box-set-review
With its frank discussions and extensive sex scenes, this is where all your questions about lesbians are answered<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUK75BHnQho" title="">The L Word</a> reached our screens just as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7TytB2Ww7E" title="">Sex and the City</a> was tottering off the Brooklyn Bridge in high-heeled pursuit of whichever shark it could jump first. Advertised by Living TV across tube stations and on the back of heat magazine by two oiled-up, bikinied lesbians and the slogan "Same Sex, Different City", it too came from a place of immense privilege.</p><p>Series one is the most heteronormative-friendly; later series went a bit haywire trying to please online forum überfans' demands for more intersectional representation at the behest of believable storylines. One worry was that out of half a dozen lesbians, only one gives off Sapphic vibes distinctive enough for a straight person to recognise: urchin-haired androgyne <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eug1s012Rlw" title="">Shane McCutcheon</a> (Katherine Moennig) is so universally sexy that everyone, male or female, gay or straight, fancies her. She carries so much swagger and aloof charisma that conspiracy theories abound that Harry Styles's entire wardrobe – nay, personality – was created in homage to her.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/20/the-l-word-box-set-review">Continue reading...</a>The L WordDramaTelevisionTelevision & radioCultureThu, 20 Mar 2014 18:25:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/20/the-l-word-box-set-reviewPhotograph: c.Showtime/Everett/REX21st-century sapphism … Leisha Hailey as Alice and Katherine Moennig as Shane in The L Word. Photograph: c.Showtime/Everett/RexPhotograph: c.Showtime/Everett/REX21st-century sapphism … Leisha Hailey as Alice and Katherine Moennig as Shane in The L Word. Photograph: c.Showtime/Everett/RexSophie Wilkinson2014-03-20T18:25:00ZHow do you listen to modern music?https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/21/how-do-you-listen-to-modern-music
Whether it's vinyl for house music or club speakers for reggae, the choice of technology can enhance the experience of listening to different music genres<p>Recently devoid of an internet connection, I had to dust off my crumbling analogue hi-fi. Tweaking its serrated dial to 99.3FM, I picked up pirate station House FM and spent about seven hours locked in to its tinny-yet-funky bass and brusque DJs who giggled every time they forgot to speak over all the swearing in the song.</p><p>Once my internet started working again, I had the option to listen to House FM on my laptop, but there was something about the radio's drop-outs and the omnipresent crackle (the antennae is truncated to a measly three inches) that I preferred: The Joe Smooth-soundtracked adverts for clubnights where Kenny Dope was a guest DJ and where potential attendees were implored not to wear trainers or caps seemed all the more authentic when channelled through a scuzzy speaker.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/21/how-do-you-listen-to-modern-music">Continue reading...</a>MusicCultureRapGrimeHip-hopPop and rockDiscoBeyoncéMariah CareyLady GagaTechnologyVinyliPodiPadWed, 21 Aug 2013 12:12:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/21/how-do-you-listen-to-modern-musicPhotograph: Andrew Carruth/AlamySome music genres need to be listened to in a club. Photograph: Andrew Carruth/AlamyPhotograph: Andrew Carruth/AlamySome music genres need to be listened to in a club. Photograph: Andrew Carruth/AlamySophie Wilkinson2013-08-21T12:12:00ZAustra's Katie Stelmanis is happy to put feminism centre-stagehttps://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/21/austra-katie-stelmanis
The doom-disco star on Mardi Gras, Marshall Jefferson and trying to be more than Lana Del Rey<p>In four years on the road with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/austra" title="">Austra</a>, Katie Stelmanis has seen it all. She's played stadiums with Gossip, intimate venues with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/the-xx" title="">the xx</a>, and rocked up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras expecting a joyous carnival only for someone to vomit on their tour van. "I'd always imagined Mardi Gras as a romantic place, all traditional parades and beautiful costumes," says Katie, "and it was just a disgusting drunkfest." In the UK, things weren't altogether better: at Austra's gig at the Tooting Tram &amp; Social in 2009, one girl was so smashed that she did a poo on the floor of the ladies' loos.</p><p>Katie may be unfazed by such unpleasantness, but there's one aspect of fronting a band that she still can't get her head around. "I don't really like having my photograph taken," she confides. "I find it uncomfortable that there's so much expectation to be a fashion model as well as a musician. It's not my comfort zone, but it's part of being a woman in music."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/21/austra-katie-stelmanis">Continue reading...</a>AustraMusicCultureIndieDanceFri, 21 Jun 2013 12:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/21/austra-katie-stelmanisPhotograph: Graeme RobertsonKatie Stelmanis. Photograph: Graeme RobertsonPhotograph: Graeme RobertsonKatie Stelmanis. Photograph: Graeme RobertsonSophie Wilkinson2013-06-21T12:00:00ZWelcome back, Spare Rib. You're needed | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/28/spare-rib-is-back-hurrah
Feminist websites already established can be divisive. There's a place for another<p>Out with the old, in with the new. Or the not so new. Last week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/23/more-no-more-sad-teenagers" title=""><em>More! </em></a>magazine, that cheeky aunt with her sex tips, boy obsession and embarrassing anecdotes, folded, after 25 years. And in its place? Well, it emerged later in the week that groundbreaking feminist magazine <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/25/sarah-raven-relaunch-spare-rib" title=""><em>Spare Rib</em> will return</a>.</p><p>Journalist Charlotte Raven has announced plans to breathe life back into the brand, emailing friends and potential backers to obtain the £20,000 needed to get the biannual print edition going. The website, though just a holding page at the moment, has all the funds to get going immediately.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/28/spare-rib-is-back-hurrah">Continue reading...</a>FeminismWomenSpare RibMediaUK newsWorld newsSat, 27 Apr 2013 23:04:19 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/28/spare-rib-is-back-hurrahPhotograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianCharlotte Raven is bringing back Spare Rib. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianPhotograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianCharlotte Raven is bringing back Spare Rib. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianSophie Wilkinson2013-04-27T23:04:19ZYoung have knocks to come | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/24/teach-young-people-about-love
They can't get jobs or buy houses. At least teach them how to be great in a couple<p>Despite aspiring to become a well-informed, well-rounded person, I didn't bother watching the parliamentary reading of the 2013 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/budget" title="">budget</a>. Snaffling a sandwich at my desk, watching grown men jeer like schoolboys, then telling social media, "Gideon, ha ha! He's called Gideon!", really wasn't on my agenda. Because, even though it's a useless excuse of an admission, I know we're in trouble, and a couple of pennies off fuel&nbsp;tax isn't going to change that.</p><p>It's not only because I'm not allowed to drive – the DVLA has had a beef with me ever since I went the wrong way on that roundabout – but because nothing of effect seems to be happening. The only step forward the government has managed in the past three months is getting a second reading of the <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/marriagesamesexcouplesbill.html" title="">marriage (same sex couples) bill</a>. But more on that later.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/24/teach-young-people-about-love">Continue reading...</a>SexSex educationSexualityLGBT rightsGay marriageUK newsSun, 24 Mar 2013 00:04:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/24/teach-young-people-about-lovePhotograph: Chris Radburn/PA Archive/Press Association ImaLiz Truss said sex education will remain voluntary. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Archive/Press Association ImaPhotograph: Chris Radburn/PA Archive/Press Association ImaLiz Truss said sex education will remain voluntary. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA Archive/Press Association ImaSophie Wilkinson2013-03-24T00:04:00ZSue Perkins's lesbian sitcom Heading Out is a step in the right directionhttps://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2013/feb/27/sue-perkins-lesbian-sitcom-heading-out
In her new sitcom Heading Out, Sue Perkins gives us a new gay role model. But the show's underlying message is a universal one<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/dec/16/rylan-clark-x-factor-death-threats-fame" title="">Rylan Clark</a> doesn't have to come out to everyone he meets. With eyebrows more preened than a Chelsea Flower show display, having to announce his sexuality to anyone is a problem far from his mind.</p><p>There are other types of gay people, including Sara, the 40-year-old protagonist of Sue Perkins's new BBC2 sitcom, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014bc7h" title="">Heading Out</a>: those who are reserved, not necessarily internalising their same-sex desires, but perhaps not meaning for them to shape their outward appearance. So they come out way beyond their teens, and it happens every day. When gay people come out, it's not because we're compelled to discuss sex, but because it's sometimes part of our lives, just as it is for straight people.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2013/feb/27/sue-perkins-lesbian-sitcom-heading-out">Continue reading...</a>TelevisionTelevision & radioCultureGenderWomenLife and styleWed, 27 Feb 2013 07:45:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2013/feb/27/sue-perkins-lesbian-sitcom-heading-outPhotograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Red Production Company Ltd/Matt SquireSue Perkins as the bumbilng, lesbian vet Sara in BBC2's Heading Out. Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Red Production Company Ltd/Matt SquirePhotograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Red Production Company Ltd/Matt SquireSue Perkins as the bumbilng, lesbian vet Sara in BBC2's Heading Out. Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Red Production Company Ltd/Matt SquireSophie Wilkinson2013-02-27T07:45:50ZSlutdropping: the dancefloor move that's bringing women togetherhttps://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/01/slutdropping-empowering-dance-move
Modern dance music has a drop in every chorus, and now there's a cruciate-threatening move to go with them<p>Amid all the horrors that form an average freshers' week, talk this year was of a decidedly unpleasant new trend. The Everyday Sexism project, informed by a tip-off, reported that a bunch of knuckle-dragging students had slammed down the sticky lids of their laptops and gone for a drive. Circling nightclubs, they'd offer lifts to a lone, slightly drunken woman. If she accepted and clambered in to the car, she'd be driven as fast as possible, as far as possible, in the opposite direction to her chosen destination. Then she'd be chucked out. The lads called it "slutdropping".</p><p>These men deserve all manner of studenty ailments – glandular fever, library fines, dodgy kebabs and more – for the vileness of their behaviour. They also deserve it for tarnishing the name of a dancefloor move that has, of late, been bringing young women together.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/01/slutdropping-empowering-dance-move">Continue reading...</a>Dance musicMusicCultureBeyoncéSat, 01 Dec 2012 00:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/01/slutdropping-empowering-dance-movePhotograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImageBeyonce about to embark on a textbook slutdrop - in heels. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImagePhotograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImageBeyonce about to embark on a textbook slutdrop - in heels. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImageSophie Wilkinson2012-12-01T00:05:00ZE! at the Emmys, and the creepy fetishisation of women's body parts | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/e-emmys-fetishisation-women-body
The ridiculous mani-/pedi-cams unveiled at this year's Emmys show celebrity women as just a collection of appendages<p>As the dispirited response to the launch of the iPhone 5 has shown, entertainment technology has reached its hilt. If you've not heard one utterance of <a href="http://mashable.com/follow/topics/ios6/" title="">iOS6</a>'s follies, that's because the most vituperative grumblings belong to those who have still to return from the principality <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/09/21/london-underground-apple-maps/" title="">they've been plonked in by the new map app</a>: "I was just trying to get to Budgens!" they'll gasp upon their return, clutching foil blankets around themselves.</p><p>Further afield (but who knows, with maps like these), last night's Emmys red carpet coverage gave us another instance of entertainment technology grasping around to feign development. The <a href="http://uk.eonline.com/" title="">E! Entertainment channel</a> (their exclamation mark, not ours) introduced the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/e-revolutionizes-emmy-awards-red-carpet-coverage-with-mani-cam/2012/09/23/e5bef6f0-05da-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_blog.html" title="">stiletto-cam, the mani-cam and the pedi-cam</a>. Having explained who they were wearing and where to the assorted press, the women on the carpet could put their feet up for scrutiny by placing them next to the stiletto-cam. Open-toed shoes would have their corollary toenails examined for quality of pedicure. Stars could also trot their freshly manicured fingers along a mini red carpet. One news report hailed this as <a href="http://thegloss.com/fashion/red-carpet-fashion/2012-emmys-mani-cam-e-news-red-carpet-631/" title="">"a secret IQ test for celebrities"</a> but this judgment is a little unfair. It takes a certain sort of celebrity to think so carefully about how they advertise the wares they've been kindly loaned for the night.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/e-emmys-fetishisation-women-body">Continue reading...</a>Emmys 2012Life and styleWomenEmmysTelevisionCelebrityEntertainment TVTelevision & radioFashionMon, 24 Sep 2012 17:40:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/e-emmys-fetishisation-women-bodyPhotograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters'Jena Malone stuck her tongue out at this year’s mani-cam diorama.' Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/ReutersPhotograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters'Jena Malone stuck her tongue out at this year’s mani-cam diorama.' Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/ReutersSophie Wilkinson2012-09-24T17:40:01ZThis week's new trackshttps://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/19/this-weeks-new-tracks
<p><strong> </strong></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/19/this-weeks-new-tracks">Continue reading...</a>Pop and rockElectronic musicMusicCultureFri, 18 May 2012 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/19/this-weeks-new-tracksPhotograph: PRMac MillerPhotograph: PRMac MillerSophie Wilkinson2012-05-18T23:05:00ZWhy Jessie J's sexuality is valuable to young teens | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/jessie-j-sexuality-valuable-young-teens
What's important is that Jessie J is happy with the way she is – lesbian or bisexual – and that girls see that it's OK to fancy girls<p>As Leveson trundles on, we've reached a point where tabloids watch their backs with a dedication usually reserved for Kelly Brook's breasts. In this purgatory, tabloids hand showbiz PRs copy approval, and patch together sensationalism through court reports of grotesque <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-who-had-her-eyes-gouged-out-794063" title="">intra-familial maulings</a> or impending apocalypse – petrol, pasties, the wettest drought imagined. So when the <a href="http://www.frontpagestoday.co.uk/2012/04/19/archive.cfm" title="">the Sun's splash</a> is "JESSIE GAY" next to a photo of Jessie J, we must be appalled that a paper would "out" a pop star, and we must insist that her sexuality is irrelevant. Nobody should care who she sleeps with, because she's a musician and it's about the music and her love life is none of our business. But I do care.</p><p>People should not be outed before they are ready – coming out is a personal process. I know this too well, having spent part of my teens depressed. At a mixed secondary school, not only could I no longer be an active participant in games of kiss-chase, but no one told me that I was normal, and that lesbians existed. "Lesbo" was merely an insult. Teachers were distant, and I thought better than to broach the subject with my overworked single mum. Beyond the strangers in internet chatrooms, where I discussed the subtextual relationship between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and evil slayer Faith, no one said I was allowed to feel like this.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/jessie-j-sexuality-valuable-young-teens">Continue reading...</a>SexualityJessie JYoung peopleLGBT rightsInequalityMusicPop and rockCelebrityFri, 20 Apr 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/jessie-j-sexuality-valuable-young-teensPhotograph: Paul Farrell'There’s no pressure for Jessie J to be a good role model – she already is, and it seems she wants to be.' Photograph: Paul FarrellPhotograph: Paul Farrell'There’s no pressure for Jessie J to be a good role model – she already is, and it seems she wants to be.' Photograph: Paul FarrellSophie Wilkinson2012-04-20T11:42:46Z'Daggering' is dirty but it's what kids do | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/daggering-dirty-what-kids-do
The latest explicit dance trend is sparking moral panic. But to take a swing at dancing for being too erotic is to forget its history<p>"The idea of it is to dance as wildly, as noisily, as furiously as you can; expose yourself as much as possible if you are a woman; and kick as high as you can, no matter which sex you belong to." Though more than 140 years have passed since Mark Twain described the can-can in The Innocents Abroad, his observations fit many subsequent boogies and shimmies. To start, the twist, the tango and moshing have each been deemed <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHElh-9f_VE" title="">"obscene"</a>, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XAzP__xv7CkC&amp;lpg=PA128&amp;ots=1IUbBfkXZL&amp;dq=tango%20pirate&amp;pg=PA129#v=onepage&amp;q=tango%20pirate&amp;f=false" title="">"inherently dangerous"</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60kPRMlJufM" title="">"disturbing"</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/daggering-dirty-what-kids-do">Continue reading...</a>Young peopleSexReggaeDance musicDanceR&BMusicCultureFri, 30 Mar 2012 10:46:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/daggering-dirty-what-kids-doPhotograph: Keystone/Getty Images1962: twisting and kissing. Photograph: Keystone/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Keystone/Getty Images1962: twisting and kissing. Photograph: Keystone/Getty ImagesSophie Wilkinson2012-03-30T10:46:33ZA short history of tanning | Sophie Wilkinsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/19/history-of-tanning
As tanning falls out of fashion with model agencies, let us recall how white people's skin tone has been perceived over the years<br /><p>In the millennia preceding the industrial revolution, pallor was popular within the upper classes, hinting at a noble life of leisure spent indoors. Dark skin was associated with serfdom and toiling in fields all day. Using poisonous whiteners to create pale skin has been popular throughout history – particularly during the ancient Greek, Roman and Elizabethan eras.</p><p>The trend for whiteness halted after the industrial revolution. Its corollary urbanisation of Britain meant that by the 19th century, the working classes had moved into the shadows. They lived in cramped dwellings and worked in mines and factories. Any leisure time available was taken indoors, to avoid the smog and soot of the streets. Children developed rickets and other bone deformities and, by 1890, Theobald Palm recognised that sunlight was crucial for bone development. A year later, John Harvey Kellogg – who had still to invent the corn flake – invented the <a href="http://lifestylelaboratory.com/articles/kellogg-protocols.html" title="">"incandescent light bath"</a>, which was used by King Edward VII, installing units in Buckingham Palace to help cure his gout.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/19/history-of-tanning">Continue reading...</a>BeautyFashionLife and styleHealthSocietyUK newsWorld newsSkincareSun, 19 Feb 2012 14:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/19/history-of-tanningPhotograph: Alex Stewart Sasha/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisCoco Chanel, who may have inadvertently 'invented' sunbathing. Photograph: Alex Stewart Sasha/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisPhotograph: Alex Stewart Sasha/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisCoco Chanel, who may have inadvertently 'invented' sunbathing. Photograph: Alex Stewart Sasha/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisSophie Wilkinson2012-02-19T14:30:01Z